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PGM is all set for February. This month, we're playing through a game known as Eevee's Tile Trial. If you wish to earn rewards, please head over to our event thread by clicking on the provided link and give yourself a shot at the game!

Hey Unregistered! How fast can you game? The Marathon II is up and running in Video Game's - compete against your friends to see how quickly you can complete sixty intense in-game challenges. See you there!

Incompetence, thy name is Virgin Mobile...

But before we take a dark, depressing turn, let me share with you something from arguably the best show this season:

Spoiler:

Nozomi-senpai's "punishment"...

Okay, so here's the deal. I have to use Virgin Mobile's broadband USB stick for internet as it's the cheapest non-contract internet provider that I can afford at this time. I've never been a huge fan of the service, as besides the bandwidth cap, it does something to crap-ify the quality of images.

But at about 3:30AM on the 17th (don't ask why I was up) I find out that I can't get online at all. I can connect to their network, but I can only access my login account page (similar to how things go when my monthly cycle is up and I need to renew). However, I had just renewed on the 11th so my cycle was nowhere near over with. And thus begins my current nightmare.

I had to make three separate calls to their so-called "customer service" filled with people with American names but thick foreign accents. During each call, I am put on hold for absurd lengths of time (having to endure the most infuriating computer voice ever, as well as crap that barely qualifies as music and makes me actually yearn for conventional "elevator music") and transferred to God knows how many different equally incompetent fools (having to endure more "on-hold" nonsense in the process). After the first two calls, I had used up almost my entire allotment of phone airtime, so I had to go to a family member's house and use their phone (they very graciously let me do so) for my third call.

And their reason? They're "upgrading" their network. Because the old network was working just fine and they just wanted to screw things up. Because losing internet access entirely is a very nice upgrade from actually being able to go online [/sarcasm]. And here's the kicker: Downtime length: Up to 72 hours. And they weren't kidding - it's STILL down as I type this at the local library. Some "upgrade," huh?

Let us ignore for a minute the fact that this upgrade is completely unnecessary. Let's ignore the fact that this happened on a Sunday, and the following Monday was a "holiday" here in the US (President's Day) and the library (my only other way to get online) was closed. If this company knew they were going to pull a stunt like this, common sense would say that they contact affected customers in advance so that they can plan for this outage. And, advance warning or not, THREE DAYS is FAR too long for the entire system to be down. Especially when potentially hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of customers might be affected. But, as has been made painfully clear, common sense does not exist at Virgin Mobile/Sprint.

Who is responsible for retarded decisions such as these? What do others do who *can't* get to a library or have alternate means of going online? And what sort of "upgrade" could possibly be worth cutting the entire network off for days on end?

Due to the sheer incompetence of their "customer service" (they could replace that department with a bunch of used soda cans and people would still get the same level of "service") I have already filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and I am prepared to take matters to my state Attorney General if need be.

In completely unrelated news, I will be going for an interview this weekend in North Carolina about a future relocation. Which means I'll either be online a lot or very little depending on how good the wi-fi is at the airports and my hotel (Quality Inn Executive Park).

Otaku. Classic car enthusiast. Hotel fanatic. And longtime Pokemon fan (the games at least), though my interest tends to wax and wane depending on the quality of the current batch of games. I also tend to be quite cynical of some elements of the fandom, particularly three of its most popular characters, and the trainers are more interesting to me than the critters themselves.

This blog exists for me to share my opinions on various subjects that interest me. I pull no punches here; if I feel strongly for or against a topic, I will make it known loud and clear and make no excuses. I like to think I offer a unique position regarding the Pokemon franchise, given I've been involved since Blue came out and my opinions are definitely not shared with the majority of fans. You'll also see info and pics about my original Pokemon trainer character, Lisa (which is also my go-to name for my in-game characters).

Besides Pokemon, I talk about anime, anime conventions, cars, hotels, white collar crime, the signatures I use on PC, and anything else that creeps into this crazy mind of mine. So sit back, grab a snack and drink (age-appropriate of course!) and enjoy the ride.

The PokéCommunity

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